


Fire and Gold in her Veins

by KaliRaven



Category: Original Work
Genre: Alternate Universe - Medieval, Gen, Magical Realism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-14
Updated: 2019-08-14
Packaged: 2020-08-23 11:04:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,126
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20241814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KaliRaven/pseuds/KaliRaven
Summary: Young Eydiana is only eleven but knows she wants to be a mage more than anything, just like her older sister. However, with her family known for it's farming instead of it's ability to create magical children, the chance of her dream ever coming true are practically zero. However, during a trip to the Mage's College across the continent to visit her sister during open house, Eydiana pokes her nose where it doesn't belong and finds an old inn witch more than willing to lend her some secret magical materials to find her "true talent". What Eydiana finds out at home revolutionizes her life.





	Fire and Gold in her Veins

_I don’t see the reason for the hatred against mages_, I thought to myself as I looked across the courtyard. Students were bustling from end to end, surrounding a large stone gazebo which took the presence in the center of the open area. Many were chatting with each other, some talking to their visiting families. Others looked stressed while carrying a satchel full of book. Visiting day didn’t mean final exams weren’t still looming over their heads.

Gathered inside the gazebo was a group of young mages who were hugging the edges of the stone platform they were on. Bright sparks shone quickly between the huddled bodies of the students. Cracks of energy danced over their heads in an almost rhythmic fashion. I rushed towards the lights and sound and found a looking spot between a pair of students who were conversing with their neighbors. Two middle ages men in fire red and gold robes were circling each others, staves firing in turn towards each other. Wards formed and disappeared just as quickly as the attacks came. One of the professors was speaking rapidly about internal mana pools and channels, nothing I could understand. A particular strong attack caused sparks to go flying towards the students who in turned panic and quickly backed up, throwing me from my spot. The older man chuckled heartily and apologized to his students who quickly came back into their positions.

A sparkling light on my sleeve caught my eyes. I brought it up to my face to see a tiny spark glittering on the fabric of my tunic. A small blue crystal embedded in the grey fabric, twinkling away. I hesitantly reached for it, worrying about it exploding or burning me. Before I could reach it a strong hand grabbed my arm right where the shard was embedded.

“Come on, we’re going to be late meeting your sister.” My mother gave a quick pull to my arm in the direction she was going and let go, expecting me to follow her. I looked down to find the crystal gone. My mother didn’t seem to have anything glowing on her hand either. I sighed, disappointed at the loss of my shard of magic and jogged towards my mother and father who were crossing the courtyard to the alchemical garden. A cobbled pathway branched out in several directions, rows of plants surrounding both sides. Several ivies crawled their way up white terraces with what looked like fruit hanging off of them. I brushed my hand across some rose looking flowers which had opened like lilies. The petals put off a sweet, almost peach-like, smell and was soft like the fur of a house cat. Pink residue was left on my fingers in tiny streaks, leaving a faint smell of the flower.

The cobbled pathway lead towards of a multi-story building. The grey bricks of the dormitory had seen some hardships through the ages but still held strong. Runes were carved above every window and those in shade faintly glittered white. A hanging banner hung proudly above the doorway leading into the building. I held eye contact with the thick banner as we passed through the entrance, holding off spoiling the sight I was about to see. Every time I came to visit I always held off on looking to be able to take in the room all at once. It gave me chills and I liked that.

My sister stood off to the side of the banquet table which took up the center of the room. Her dark blue robes looked freshly pressed with a few old stains dotting the end of her long sleeves. Another mage, clad in green robes, stood across from her, both of them happily chatting away. I knew that senior mages and graduates were given special robes but I had never seen green robes like those before. It would be something I would have to ask about later.

“Mashala!” My sister quickly spotted us and shouted the traditional greeting of our region at us while scooping me up in her arms and spinning me around. After she set me down she moved to our parents, kissing and hugging them both, before settling down. “How are you all doing? I know it was a long trip.” She pulled us out of the middle of the entrance way to the banquet table and making us each a plate of food.

“Nonsense, it wasn’t that long at all and you know we would travel any length to see you.” My mother patted my sister’s shoulder, who was beaming with pride at the compliment. “You’re becoming a talented mage. I’m so proud of you.”

“Indeed, soon enough you’ll be moving to a hold capital to work for a Jarl!” Working for a Jarl was one of my father’s biggest dreams for my sister. She would have a steady job and a guaranteed place to live, something most of us in our hold don’t have. If our farm fails we have nowhere to go.

“Of course father, I know you only want me to go so you can rub elbows with the rest of the fancy folk.” my sister teased. Our father laughed and stole a piece of chicken from her plate.

“That’s for being smart with your old dad,” he smirked at her.

“When can I become a mage?” I asked my sister, setting my plate of food down. “It looks like so much fun!” I imitated shooting a stave and the spell blowing something up.

“If your talents grow by the time you’re sixteen, then you can come.” She offered me a piece of sweet bread to placate me. It didn’t work.

“But that’s four years away!” I complained, convinced the world was doing this to me on purpose.

“Yes, but mages are born, not made. You cannot wield magic if you cannot make any. By sixteen all mages have shown some signs of their powers. I’m sorry, sis.” She sighed. She knew I looked up to her so much and only wanted to be special too. If I was a mage, I could help our parents on the farm by making the crops grow faster and stronger.

“Fine, I’ll wait, but when I do get my magic I’m going to be the most powerful mage ever!” I could see it now, a stave of pure obsidian with glittering runes all up and down the staff and spells that would destroy the strongest golem. My red and gold robes would flutter around me as I summoned a storm to deter raiders or to water the land around me. It was going to be amazing! Everyone in my family just chuckled, of course.  
I huffed at my family and picked at the food on my plate. They were right. Mages are born and neither one of my parents had any magical talent. However, sometimes random children are born as mages; that’s what my sister was. Bridgers is what they call them. They straddle the line between the mundane and magical worlds, a foot in each one. Many theorize that there were mages early in the family line and their magic simply went inert. When parents of similar situations have children, the magic is reborn in the child.

“Don’t worry about it too much, sweetie. If it happens then it happens. If not, your father and I would be just as happy to have you on the farm.” My mother kissed my cheek and put her hand on my shoulder.

The subject was dropped for the rest of the trip. My sister gave us a tour of the classrooms and buildings while introducing us to her professors. Everyone seemed so friendly and happy to be there. A flood of green robes surrounded us once we reached the alchemical wing. Students who showed signs of magic but didn’t have a strong enough line to do spells were assigned to brew potions and tonics. What I had learned at school was wrong, you don’t just throw ingredients together. They first have to be magically infused and left to soak in various tonics made from the plants in the garden. What little magic these students held was put into the health tonics we used back home. They had their own section of the college near the back of campus. The hands and arms of every student were stained with various dyes and burn marks decorating quite a few fingers. Flasks and vials were held in stands around the room. The air was thick with smells that made me cough and gag.

The day came to a quick close afterwards. The sun was setting while the moon was rising further into the sky. I hugged my sister goodbye and followed my parents as they led me off of campus and back to the tavern we had booked a room in, located on the outskirts of the town. I saw so much on the walk there. Public alchemic shops and robe tailors and ingredient farms and everything was amazing! I saw one mage haggling over the price of gold dust and another one buying a new stave from the local artificers. I remember falling in love with that word when my sister corrected me from calling them blacksmiths. They were talking about the best person to carve runes into it and something about spraying fire. Yet another mage was entertaining children on the street corner with floating balls of light and making sculptures out of ice in his hand while their parents shopped.

The tavern was fairly crowded. Tons of families were hanging out around the table drinking out of colored bottles. Young children could be heard in a room playing with toys. Most of the families looked like mine with older clothes and their bodies muscular yet worn from years of physical labor. You could tell they were tired yet happy with themselves. Their children had finally made it somewhere they could try for a better life. My father walked up to the counter and got our room key while my mother chatted with familiar people from our district. I wandered around the open area of the tavern until I found myself at a hallway with a sign taped across it saying ‘private.’ I checked to see if anyway around me was watching and then slipped down the hallway. Surely, whatever was back here was more interesting than adults gossiping amongst themselves. It was a simple wooden hallway like the rest of the tavern but had been spared the years of abuse like the rest of the building. Four doors for four rooms lines the walls, two on each side. I started quietly turning knobs only to find the doors locked; must have been personal room for the innkeepers. I sighed internally and decided to try the last one, having a good clue of the result. A light touch on the knob knocked the door back half an inch. Not only was it unlocked but the door was already open.

I shoved the door back with my foot, taking in the room. Shelves upon shelves of books lined the walls. A small table had several flower baskets filled with glowing purple gems. Scrolls littered the edges of the bookshelves and the floor around the cabinets themselves. Small stacks of paperwork and loose, open books were on the floor. I inched my way in the room slowly, taking in the energy pulsating from the objects around me. However long they had been here, they’ve had enough time to absorb the essence of magic itself. My foot hit a bottle on the floor, sending it skidding against the sanded and polished planks. I looked behind me to follow it to see it crash into a wicker basket full of glowing blue bottles.

“Being nosy are ya?” I whipped around to see a middle aged women staring me down. Her salt and pepper hair was pulled into so tight of a bun I began to wonder if her snapping at me was from the headache her hairstyle was causing. “Snooping around our spell room are ya?” My voice caught in my throat as I locked eyes with her. Small wrinkles around her eyes gave her piercing glare that much more of a point.

“Sorry ma’am.” I choked out. I broke eye contact with her and look down at my feet.

“You like magic, kid?” I quickly raised my head and nodded at her, keeping my hands bunched in my tunic. “Come over ‘ere.” She whisked past me quickly and stopped at the table at the back of the room. I followed her with a jog and when I reached her I had to jump back as she swiped her arm across the cable, clearing a spot. Gems of various sizes slid away while two books landed where I was about to stand. “Kick ‘em away,” she gestured at the books, “You familiar with scrolls?” I shook my head. “Spell books?” I nodded feverently.

“My sister had a couple before she left for the college. The recruiters dropped them off for her to play with.” I picked up one of the books at me feet. There was a bookmark located on a page where I didn’t understand anything on the page.

“Ya don’t need that one. Too complicated. Ya need a beginner book of some kind.” She snatched the book away and strode over to an oversized bookshelf overflowing with books and scrolls. My attention was pulled away as a twinkling caught my eyes. A large dark purple gem on the table had an active swirl dancing across its surface. I reached for it and had to recoil from the extreme energy that hit me once I made contact with it.

“Ah, find de gems did ya?” She walked back over and sat the book in a chair, picking up two handfuls of gems from the wicker basket shoved against the books on a shelf. “Know how they get their powers?” I shook my head. “They soak ‘em in pure drovium, liquid magic.”

She unceremoniously dropped the gems and shoved the book into my chest a little rougher than was probably needed. “Take this home, read it, study it. I can tell ya got some magic in ya. Use it,” I gently grasped the book in absolute awe as she pulled her hand away, “Now get out.” She shooed me out of the room and closed the door behind us. I ran down the hallway and into the lobby, clutching the book the entire way to my chest. I saw both of my parents chatting to a group, all of them from the colored glass bottle mystery drink. I had to get this book into my bag before the cranky lady changed her mind.

I ran up to the rather jovial barkeep and got directions to my family’s room. Once there, I dug through my personal knapsack and found a soft blanket to wrap the book in. It was warm here anyway, I wouldn’t need a blanket tonight. After making sure it was safe from damage I wandered back out to the lobby and spent the rest of the night with my parents while they became drunk off of the mystery drink. Once they became awkward I wandered over to the mages entertaining the young children and talked about spell techniques.

The next day was spent on a carriage back home. We arrived at the farm in the evening. The farms were tilled and the animals fed thanks to the local kids we paid in advance. We unpacked everything we took from the living area such as extra food and pillows, leaving the rest of the personal belongings to be dealt with tomorrow. My parents threw their bags in their room and immediately went to bed to sleep off the rest of their hangover.

After settling back into my room, I lit a small candle on my nightstand and unwrapped the spell book. The cover was made of a hard leather and had fancy script written across the front of it. A swirling border was inked across the edges of the front and back cover. The spine was worn and had crinkled folds in several places. I opened the front cover to find notes scribbled across the first pace. Frantic handwriting was scattered everywhere with arrows pointing to some lines in particular. I flipped through a few more pages until I found the start of the instructions.

Line after line I poured over on magical theory and how to channel your inner magic. Hours went by as my candle dwindled down to a stub and had to be replaced. The moon was nearly risen as I reached the halfway point. Still, I continued to study, absorbing every detail I could get my eyes on. My excitement wouldn’t let me sleep at this point anyway. It was like a new world opened up in front of me.

Morning was only about an hour from cresting over the horizon by the time I finished. The second half of the book went far faster as it talked about how to create basic spells. I picked out the easiest one I could find, hoping for even a small hint of magic. I shakily held my hand out in front of me, closed my eyes, and concentrated on what the book told me to. Focus, focus, focus. Imagine the light. Lead it through your body. Feel the magic tether from your chest and wrap down your arms. Concentration, it takes concentration, my thoughts raced through my mind at the speed of a spooked horse. Visual flashes of the books crowded my mind as I mentally rehearsed the instructions. I knew I could do this, I just knew it.

I sat there for I don’t know how long, waiting for the sensation of the magic to form in my palm. Dejected, I let my hands drop in my lap and opened my eyes. A small ball of light floated in front of me. It was nothing like the mages at the college produced, but none the less, a ball of light. It was so small, about the size of a grain, and yet it put off enough light to cast my own shadow behind me. A small aura of heat could be felt coming off of it. I cupped my hands around it, taking in the warmth in favor of the chilly morning air.

“Eydiana, what are you doing?” I looked past my ball of light to see both of my parents standing in shock in my doorway. I looked back at the ball of light cupped in hands and smiled.

“Mom, dad, I’m a mage.”


End file.
